When Bob McNair Speaks… Listen

Who doesn’t listen whenever the boss speaks? Bob McNair is never one to be absent from the team or short of words to say about them and Wednesday night was no different.

McNair spoke at the ‘Speakers Series’ for the Houston Touchdown Club, where he was honored as the ‘Touchdowner Of The Year.’ Of course like I said, whenever the man who signs the checks speaks. We can all agree that it is wise to listen. So with the much anticipated 2012 season on the horizon, McNair took the chance to do some bragging on the team.

However, one of the first comments he made was very interesting. Saying he doesn’t believe in the whole ‘Super Bowl or Bust’ label on this season’s team. Now, hearing that makes any Texans fan for sure say, “huh?!” Yet, as he continued to talk you understand exactly what he means.

“If we don’t go to the Super Bowl and win it, we’re going to go out and work just as hard the next day to make sure we do,” McNair said. “Our expectation is we’re a good football team and we expect to play well. And if we do that, there’s no reason why we won’t be there.”

See, its much better once you keep reading down the page and find out that McNair, like most of us have high hopes for this football team. Like any successful person in life, he is just merely stating the outcome that he knows is possible for this squad. What is the harm in that?

Another key topic of conversation on Wednesday night during his five minute chat with the media was Connor Barwin and Duane Brown. Of course, the big news facing those two key players is their on-going contract negotiations in hopes of locking them up long-term before their deals run out in 2013.

“We put a lot of effort in to trying to keep our players, as opposed to free agents,” McNair said. “Those are great guys, we want to keep them here and we’re going to do everything we can to see that happens.”

However, like the reacting to the ‘Super Bowl or Bust’ conversation. Bob McNair keeps in mind the possibilities of having to prepare for the less than ideal situations. In this case, that would means losing either one or both players to free agency.

“We have to have depth, we have to have young people coming along behind the guys that are outstanding,” McNair said. “If we unfortunately don’t have someone return, we need to have someone step in there for them.”

Does this concept sound familiar? ‘Next Man Up? Bob McNair knows for sure that one thing is true in the NFL… Nothing is a sure thing. Just because he is breaking down the possibly disappointing outcomes to two storylines facing the team in the preseason, doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe good things are to come. It just means that business doesn’t end when you win a Lombardi Trophy or sign key players to long term deals. You still have to come to work the next day. Lets just hope both of those scenarios have positive conclusions when he walks into his office in early February.